A historic building in Detroit’s Chinatown has been torn down, even as advocates were attempting to save it. Despite backlash from the Asian American community, 3143 Cass Avenue was demolished July 29. The historic building was at the heart of Detroit’s Chinatown and held historical and spiritual significance to the neighborhood.

City officials said the building was a public safety hazard, and the building’s current owners, Olympia Development of Michigan, the Ilitch family organization's real estate firm, obtained a permit to tear it down despite a unanimous vote by the Detroit City Council to halt the demolition. The building had stood there for 140 years.

The building was known as the Chinese Merchant Association building, according to American Citizens for Justice President Roland Hwang. When the building was in use, the ACJ organized there following the killing of Vincent Chin in 1982. Its demolition marks the continuation of an all-but-lost Chinatown in Detroit nowadays. Detroit’s first Chinatown was moved in the 1960s due to the construction of the Lodge Freeway, and many Asian Americans opted to move to the suburbs of Detroit in the 1970s.

Producer Bill Kubota visits a press conference at the demolished site where activists and residents talk about what this loss means to the Asian American community in Detroit, as well as ways to preserve the history of Chinatown and what some want to see happen in the future.

Episode 805/Segment 1

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